Search the Dictionary

; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "-er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those of more than one syllable are usually compared by prefixing "more" and "most", or "less" and "least", to the positive; as, b…

nerate; to recompence; to give an equivalent to; to requite suitably; as, to compensate a laborer for his work, or a merchant for his losses.

To construct by mental labor; to design and execute, or put together, in a manner involving the adaptation of forms of expression to ideas, or to the laws of harmony or proportion; as, to compose a sentence, a sermon, a symphony, or a picture. Let me compose Something in verse as well as prose. Pope. The genius that co…

a work of art; as, the composition of a poem or a piece of music. "The constant habit of elaborate composition." Macaulay.

To bind by mutual agreement; to agree. [Obs.] Laban and himself were compromised That all the eanlings which were streaked and pied Should fall as Jacob's hire. Shak.

lackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. Shak. With what complusion and laborious flight We sunk thus low. Milton.

the Congress of the United States; as, congressional debates. Congressional and official labor. E. Everett. Congressional District, one of the divisions into which a State is periodically divided (according to population), each of which is entitled to elect a Representative to the Congress of the United States.…

A marine European fish (Crenilabrus melops); also, the related American cunner. See Cunner.

Having like sounds. Consonant words and syllables. Howell.

he eye; easy to be seen; plainly visible; manifest; attracting the eye. It was a rock Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds, Conspicious far. Milton. Conspicious by her veil and hood, Signing the cross, the abbess stood. Sir W. Scott.

er of building or putting together the parts of anything; structure; arrangement. An astrolabe of peculiar construction. Whewell.

continental coalition. Macaulay. No former king had involved himself so frequently in the labyrinth of continental alliances. Hallam.

o, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and lague with the aforesaid queen. Hakluyt. Many persons . . . had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity . . . prohibited by law. Strype.

The system of employing convicts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work.

wo words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is.

f ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me. Lev. xxvi. 21. We have lost our labor; they are gone a contrary way. Shak.

An East Indian porter or carrier; a laborer transported from the East Indies, China, or Japan, for service in some other country.

f coöperating, or of operating together to one end; joint operation; concurrent effort or labor. Not holpen by the coöperation of angels. Bacon.

One who labors jointly with others to promote the same end. "Coöperators with the truth." Boyle.

The state of things produced by a combination of persons, who buy up the whole or the available part of any stock or species of property, which compels those who need such stock or property to buy of them at their own price; as, a corner in a railway stock. [Broker's Cant] Corner stone, the stone which lies at the corn…